GoonWaffe

Goonswarm Federation

I’m Thoric Frosthammer. I am currently the Chairman of Get Off My LAWN, a founding alliance of the CFC coalition, and I’m running for CSM X.

I began playing EVE in 2004, took a break, came back with a new set of characters, and have been playing, with some interruptions, since 2006. There is very little of EVE I haven’t seen. I started in Hisec, moved to Nullsec to join friends in ASCN down in Feythabolis, and have since spent time in virtually every region of Nullsec, with several Nullsec alliances, large and small.

There are very few things in EVE I haven’t tried. I’ve been a miner, a POS farmer, a PvP’er, a mission runner, a wormholer, an industrialist, and most recently a market manipulator. I have served as a director of many corporations. I have run spies and scams. My main focus at the moment has been guiding the unique group of folks known as LAWN in helping anchor our portion of the CFC in Fountain, and I have become deeply familiar with nullsec politics, sov warfare, and sov holding. I have been around for some of the biggest wars and battles in Null history, from the first titan loss, all the way to B-R. I have watched EVE grow as a game and as a social experiment.

My breadth of experience, which includes everything from line membership to top level alliance leadership, hisec to nullsec, has given me both a deep appreciation for the remarkable achievement that is EVE, and some deep skepticism about the directions that CCP is currently taking. I hope to join some of the other CFC representatives in pushing CCP harder to listen to the players that are at the root of EVE’s success.

Because I believe that EVE, at heart, is about social structures, I am deeply concerned about a few issues:

First, attention needs to be paid to bringing new players into the game and keeping them here. That doesn’t necessarily mean dumbing it down or making it easier. What keeps them in game, from years of introducing new players to EVE, is immediate access to a social network. Players who become enmeshed in a group of friends or allies right away stay longer, in my experience. I would like to move CCP’s focus from shiny UI and ship skins into the realm of engineering basic changes to the way new players are introduced to other players. I want to see changes that get someone who sees those shiny new “This is EVE” ads linked up to other players in a way that encourages them to stay on past the learning curve, in a way much more meaningful than listening to the jibber jabber of an NPC corp channel. I’d also like to see changes to the tools available for corporations to recruit such players. The most viable entities in EVE are those that know how to bring in new players and make them welcome. Let’s see if we can spread that knowledge, and to some extent make it implicit in game structure. More players means an EVE that will last, so that all of us can continue to enjoy it.

Second, CCP needs to remember that they are at their worst when they start ignoring the wishes of their players. I have played virtually every MMO since MUDs were a thing, and they all fall down when they start believing their “vision” is so pristine that it has nothing to gain from listening to the thousands of players telling them they aren’t enjoying it. CCP has learned this lesson more than once, but they seem to forget it periodically. I believe we’re at another such point. Some of the changes implemented, though I believe they are positive in general, such as the faster development cycle, have had the effect of insulating CCP from player comment, or giving them the impression they can safely ignore it. It seems to me CCP has been particularly aggressive in ignoring the input of the CSM in recent years, while simultaneously holding it up to shield themselves from criticism. I hope to hold their feet to the fire.

Third, CCP seems to have a particular axe to grind at the moment against some of the larger entities in the game. These entities have been the most successful at creating a culture that brings people into game, and keeps them there. The answer that CCP seems to be pushing to prevent stagnation in EVE is to break these successful entities apart, instead of learning the lessons of their success to improve the game. I’ll say something controversial here that will no doubt earn me the enmity of certain factions of EVE: Stagnation isn’t the fault of large coalitions. It is the natural result of game mechanics that reward risk averse behavior. That’s where the focus should be. You can create good, rewarding mechanics that both encourage social structure AND penalize risk aversion. This will drive conflict and content.

This doesn’t mean I’m against the idea of creating a space for small and medium organizations. Not everyone can be a Goonswarm or a PL, or even a CFC or N3 member. Not everyone wants to be. As the leader of a small to medium alliance myself, I am eager for opportunities that will allow an organization the size of my own to shine. But doing it at the expense of larger organization isn’t going to grow the game. The larger orgs give something for the smaller ones to aspire to. They drive the greater meta of the game, and create a lot of the intrigue and movement that have kept the game fresh for better than a decade. My hope is that we can find a middle way that gives us all opportunity.

I hope to earn your vote and be a strong voice for the player base on CSM X. Thank you.

Stimulus

Rote Kapelle

I'm trying to figure out how to not make this sound rude, but failing miserably. Why should I vote for you over any of the other nullsec candidates? Also, as a player that participates in conflicts on a smaller scope primarily in low sec, npc null and w-space, how would your ideas and support for large coalitions affect me? Finally, since you mentioned new player retention in conjunction with corporation management and advertising, what are your opinions on the upcoming change to allow concord to interfere with corp on corp violence?

Founder of Violet Squadron, a small gang NPSI community! Mail me for more information.

My ideas aren't specifically related to support for large coalitions. The point I'm making is that stagnation, and the lack of a place for smaller entities in NullSec, aren't the fault of larger coalitions. People are blaming the wrong thing. Stagnation is the direct result of goals and systems that reward both N+1 combat, where the bigger blob always wins, and risk aversion (blueballing) when you can't win the N+1 war.

There is also the general issue that, once you've taken a sufficient volume of space, there's simply very little reason other than "because I feel like it" to conflict with your neighbors. Again, it creates a balance in favor of risk aversion, and elimination of conflict.

Larger coalitions will always exist, but what needs to happen is that reasons for smaller scale conflict need to be present, and systems need to be in place to overcome the tendency toward inertia.

More movement, more conflct, these things create space for new entities to fill in the ecosystem of EVE. This includes smaller entities.

With regard to the Concord changes, I am of two minds. As i've said, one of my goals would be to see CCP discover new ways to hook new players up to a social network as soon as possible. On one hand, the Concord changes allow greater ability for hisec corporations to make themselves available as a social network for new players without fearing immediate loss or carnage. On the other hand, as I've also indicated, I don't like dumbing down the game. Its longevity is directly related to its deep and complex gameplay.

My take on the Concord changes is wait and see. If, on balance, the social benefit and an increased number of new players living past the learning cliff outweighs the reduction in complex gameplay, it is a win. If not, it should be rolled back, as CCP did with Teams.

As to why you should select me over other nullsec candidates, I think perhaps I bring a new perspective that may be a little different than some of the voices you've heard before. I, and the alliance I manage, bring a slightly different style of community to EVE and the CFC, and we've been pretty successful with it recently. I have also seen nullsec from virtually every side. I have been part of the small independent alliance finding its way into new space, the big, hidebound dinosaur alliance sliding to its death, the powerful juggernaut that is the CFC, and even a pirate NPC space corp here and there on an alt. I have run an alliance and I've been a cog in the machine. I have a pretty good grasp of the full range faced by a wide variety of nullsec players.

Garoun Investment Bank

Gallente Federation

I've had the distinct honor of working with Thoric in his capacity as alliance leader in the CFC. He has been a tremendous asset, and isn't afraid to make difficult leadership decisions. He leads a tight-knit community, which speaks volumes for his abilities.

GoonWaffe

Goonswarm Federation

In addition to having an immense depth of experience and knowledge of the game, he brings a focused and intelligent methodology to his decision-making that I believe can help shape this game to remain a social venue for both EVE veterans and newbro's for years to come.

As someone who has had the privilege of recruiting Thoric two and a half years ago into my corporation as a line-member in Black Core Alliance and watching him progress into the alliance leader of Get Off My Lawn within the CFC, I fully support his campaign to become a member of CSM X.

If you would like to see CCP re-focus on the social venue that EVE is to its players, then vote for Thoric Frosthammer CSM X.